


The Surety of Deceit.

by Wildcard



Category: Harry Potter - J. K. Rowling
Genre: M/M
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2017-01-28
Updated: 2017-01-28
Packaged: 2018-09-20 11:12:30
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Major Character Death
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,201
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/9488567
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Wildcard/pseuds/Wildcard
Summary: Regulus Black is a terrible liar. Severus Snape is sure of that. Six bite-sized looks at how their relationship might've worked.





	

**Author's Note:**

  * For [graveExcitement (arachnids)](https://archiveofourown.org/users/arachnids/gifts).



> Happy Chocolate Day! I went with the chocolate box theme and wrote a bunch of short, interconnected ficlets all of which have a different flavor to them. I didn''t have time to read the series you suggested, unfortunately (I work 13 hour days, weekends included), so I'm not sure if my characterization of Regulus is the same as the one in the fic you liked. I hope you like this story anyway.

 

> _Chocolate Covered Macadamia Nut:_

  
Regulus Black is a terrible liar.

He is not a bad liar, please note. No, he is a terrible liar because he is a compulsive liar. He lies every time he bows obsequiously to the Dark Lord, he lies time every time he says ‘Mudblood’ like it’s the foulest of insults and worst of all, he lies every time he smiles at Severus as if they are anything like.

Regulus Black is a terrible lair but nobody except Snape has realized that he’s lying at all.

That makes him the best liar of all.

> _Bittersweet Dark Chocolate Truffle:_

“Horcruxes,” Snape tells Dumbledore and doesn’t think of Regulus lying in bed with him, tracing the joints of Severus’ body and severing Severus into five parts with the sweep of his smooth fingertips. Legilimency is the Headmaster’s weapon but Occulemency is Severus’ talent. This is a secret he must protect from both his masters. “He-Who-Must-Not-Be-Named has split his soul into 5 parts and created a Horcrux for each.”

“Are you sure of this, Severus?” The Headmaster asks. The twinkle is gone from his eye, the lines of his face deepened as if the war is chipping away at him.

_Good_ , Severus thinks savagely. They’ve lost so much to the war. Why should Dumbledore be exempt?

(He will _not_ think of Regulus!)

“Yes,” he says, voice as calm as he doesn’t feel. “I am sure.”  
  


> _Aztec Spice:_

Regulus Black is a terrible liar.

“I loathe traitors,” he says with a grand sweep of his arm, a lock of black hair falling over his forehead in a defiant lock. Unlike the Malfoys, he does not believe in the power of Wizarding Wax to keep his hair in place. His hair is always soft, always sleek and touchable. It makes Severus all the more aware of the oil at the roots of his own hair as he listens to Regulus hold court in the living room of Grimmauld Place.

“They will take and take from you, feigning friendship, but then betray your trust in them. They think that what they have is their right and do not realize how easy it is to lose the loyalty they owned once they show their true colors.”

Behind him, the family tree has a blasted hole where Sirius should have been and everyone thinks they know whom Regulus speaks of.

Severus knows better; he hasn’t seen Kreacher since the Dark Lord borrowed him.

> _Creme Brulee Truffle:_

“Horcruxes,” Regulus tells Severus as he presses his warm lips against Severus’ pale skin, “Are far harder to destroy than a person.”

“You’re tried?” Severus can’t make the question casual, not with Regulus curled around him (inside his heart) and Regulus’ palm over his chest where he can hear the steady thudding of Severus’ heart. Severus’ treacherous heart still quickens its beats when Regulus hums thoughtfully near Severus’ ear, the warm gusts of breath tickling-teasing at Severus’ skin.

“No. But I’ve researched.”

Once upon a time, Severus would have said ‘how Ravenclaw of you’ and the two of them would have shared a laugh but their schoolboy days are over and their alliances lie with greater causes. Now, he turns his head so that his dark eyes meet Regulus’ guarded gaze.

Legilimens, he longs to say, the word at his tongue-tip (his wand is on the bedside table, his prick is in Regulus’ hand), so he kisses Regulus to stop himself.

The languid press-pull of their mouths is familiar not heated, calculated and coolly erotic in its competence. They know each other too well to kiss in a way that they won’t enjoy.

  
They know each other too well for Severus to not know what Regulus is(n’t) telling him. They know each other too well for Severus to be unsure.

> _Salted Caramel:_

  
Regulus Black is a terrible liar.

“I know what I’m doing,” he says (he lies), and Severus isn’t fool enough to believe him – but also not fool enough to stop him. This has to be done.

(Lily has to be safe. Lily can’t have thought of him in years. Lily has to be safe and something in him shatters to choose between a childhood friend he wronged and the man whose body is so warm against his.)

“I know what I’m doing,” Regulus repeats, perhaps responding to some skepticism that Severus couldn’t help but show on his face. He laughs and leans forwards, presses another kiss to Severus’ mouth as if stamping the proof of his vitality there.

Severus can’t stop himself from reaching up and placing a hand on Regulus’ hip, fingers spanning out and the jut of Regulus’ hipbone resting comfortably in the curve of Severus’ hand. The robes between them kept Severus from feeling Regulus’ skin but the scent of Severus still clung to Regulus’ skin, the marks of his teeth marring Regulus’ fair throat.

“Then why did you come to me if not for that one last tryst?” The goodbye on Regulus’ lips tastes like the bitterest of chocolate, salted instead of sweet. Severus can’t fool himself that’s not what it is.

“For luck,” Regulus says lightly with the courage that should have seen him in Gryffindor (but who would be so ambitious as to destroy a Dark Lord’s Horcrux except a Slytherin?) but Regulus is a terrible liar and Severus has never been fooled.

“You should have asked me for some _Felix Felicis_ then,” Severus said, fingers pressing a little more firmly against Regulus’ skin. Both of them knew it would do no good against enchantments are strong as the ones that Regulus was likely to face; Severus could not help but say it anyway.

“I prefer your kisses.” Regulus matched word to deed, leaning down to touch his lips to Severus’ a final time. Severus’ mouth tingled when Regulus finally pulled away and had it been anyone else, Severus would have suspected they’d smeared a potion on his lips.

Had it been anyone else, Severus would not have allowed them to kiss him in the first place.

“Sentimentality, Regulus?” Severus asked, mimicking the upper-class drawl that came so easily to Regulus’ lips. “If only the Dark Lord knew.”

"If only. Until we meet again, Severus." Regulus’ laughter echoes in the room long after he’s Disapparated.

> _White Chocolate Truffle:_

“Horcrux. It was a Horcrux,” Severus tells Dumbledore and has never hated the man as much as he does now. “Black went after a Horcrux and died trying to destroy it.”

The Dark Lord hadn’t looked weakened afterwards but the meetings weren’t held at Grimmauld Place anymore. That is proof enough to Severus that Regulus failed but his treachery had gone undiscovered.

He doesn’t think it would hurt less if Regulus had died succeeding.

“Are you sure?” The Headmaster asks. There’s something like pity in his eyes and Severus wonders if perhaps his Occlumency wasn’t as good as he’d thought if Dumbledore is looking at him like that.

“There was no body found but -” And Severus tells himself that is a good thing, that is a mercy, and nothing stops his bed from being cold without Regulus there. “I’m sure.”

Severus Snape is a terrible liar but this time, he’s not lying.


End file.
